Jess & I had a good day today. We did the NW Kansas Quilt Shop Hop. This is the fourth year for the Shop Hop. Before, we've always gone with a group but it didn't work out that way this year. Previous years we've also done it all in one day. A lot of miles, a lot of fabric and a lot of laughs. We still have to hit the two quilt shops here in town tomorrow.

Jess got fabric for a quilt. It'll be pretty neat when she gets done. She's getting as bad as me - several tops finished and several in the works but no completed quilt yet!

After last years Hop I came home and made up the quilt from the blocks bought from each store on the Hop. Each year the stores pick a line of fabric and each store designs their own block. Every store then makes up the blocks from all the stores and designs their own quilt. It's really pretty cool. So I have last years top all put together and hanging in the sewing room. I was determined to have it ready by last Christmas but got sidetracked with IPSSs and such. So it's still hanging and waiting.

We saw Bill in Hays. He's been staying there for a couple three weeks now and just home for a day or so while waiting for the rig to move to a new location. Right now the rig is about 2 1/2 hrs. from home so it makes sense to stay down there. We went to Long John Silvers to eat. Hadn't been to one in a long time. It was nice to actually eat a meal together. But I felt like I was keeping him from sleep. But his sleep is pretty sporadic anyway. He went back to bed after we left for home. But when I talked to him a little bit ago he said he didn't really get back to sleep until about 8 and I was calling to wake him up around 9. Poor guy.

Jess had a swim party when we got home. And right now is at a "Fifth Quarter" (party after the football game) with a friend who was at the swim party. It's sponsored by one of the local churches

Tomorrow she has soccer and we have to hit the two local quilt shops. Then we're taking Dad out to supper instead of lunch. Sunday we have Girl Scouts Court of Awards - good snacks there! And then a meeting for all HS and Jr High kids and parents at our church. We have a new youth pastor, haven't had one for several years now, and he'd like to meet with everyone.

Starting next Monday, Justin is off work for a week while the store remodeling and parking lot are completed. So my boss is hiring him to repair all the leaks on the roof of the photo shop. Guess I might see more of him next week, or at least hear him walking overhead!

I forgot to mention that we met for lunch with one of my sisters & her family. My neice has a two week old baby, their first and we hadn't got to see Kalinda yet. She's a cutie and will sleep through everything, unlike my kids when they were little.

I had an AHA moment yesterday. I was watching Mystery Diagnosis, that show is addictive. Anyway they started thinking that a patient had vitamin B 12 deficiency. I know that I am deficient in B 12 after having a bowel resection for my Crohn's many years ago.
My current GI asked me in one of our initial visits when I'd had my last B 12 shot. Shot? What shot? He couldn't believe that no one had mentioned to me that my B 12 was low and that I could no longer absorb it and needed replacements. Instead of going into the local clinic every month for a shot, I got a bottle (prescription) of B 12 and my boss, who was a nurse for many years gave me my shots. Well, at some point we both pretty much forgot about them. I haven't had a shot in over a year or more.
Yesterday when I started hearing some of the symptoms of low B 12 it occured to me that I better get back to those shots, as I have a lot of those symptoms. You would think I would of researched the symptoms at some point after Dr. Johnson told me I was deficient. But nope, good thing I heard about it yesterday.
Symptoms of low B 12

You might not have any symptoms if your vitamin B-12 level is just a little bit
low. However, a very low vitamin B-12 level can cause anemia, depression,
dementia or a serious problem with your nervous system.

Some people with low
vitamin B-12 also have high levels of homocysteine (say: ho-mo-sis-teen), an
amino acid (a building block of protein) in the blood. If you have both of these
problems, you may have a higher risk of heart disease and stroke

.

Kalinda Mary

9-9-08

The newest member of our family! My niece Kimmy had her first child yesterday. My oldest sister, Myrna, now joins the ranks of grandma. Kimmy said she reminds her of a glow worm!! I think I hear the makings of a nickname.

I recently came across a letter Dad sent me shortly after Bill & I became engaged. It's a real treasure that I keep tucked away and sometimes forget I have. I truly think everyone on the brink of marriage needs a letter like this.
I'm going to copy parts of the letter. I will say beforehand that I do think there are some cases where it's not safe to stay with a spouse and then I completely agree with leaving.

You are about to commit
yourself to what I
believe is a lifetime commitment.
To me there is no turning back the time. For
better or worse is certainly a
realistic phrase. That is exactly how it will
be and only a very strong
commitment to making it work will succeed.
Both of you will go through periods when
you begin to doubt if you can
continue to stay together. You must be very
strong at such times. You must and I
repeat you must be strong enough to
brush such thoughts aside and to talk about
the problems even when you don't
want to.
You may think that I am
trying to discourage
you. Not at all!
Just be willing to understand that this is the
way it will be.
When the time comes for you to
both look back
on your life together then you will understand what I am
about to tell you.
The rewards of
a life together are very real
and they are worth all the effort that it
takes to arrive at that point.
It is sort of like climbing a mountain. It
takes a lot of effort, once you have
arrived you can look back and the view is
wonderful

God bless you both

Dad

My dad is a smart man. The letter also gives a little insight into my parent's marriage. They never fought in front of us kids. In fact one or both had to be seriously annoyed before we could even tell any difference in their mannerisms.

On raising children about the only advice I've heard my dad give is - "Never put your children in a position where they will lie to you."

As an aside, I wonder if I found my mother to be as annoying as I seem to be. Wish she was around to ask her how she handled it. I suspect alot like I do, she quit talking.

Yesterday my sister and I were talking about a lady we know that has breast cancer. It was just discovered in a routine mamogram. She had a biopsy earlier this week. Now I don't know much about cancer, so I'm not sure how they know this, but they are fairly confident that they actually got most of it while doing the biopsy. So she will have a lumpectomy and a 1 week treatment of breast Brachytherapy.
I had to look up Brachytherapy as that was the first I'd heard of it. My sister explained the little she knew. Very simplified, It seems (if I interpreted right) that it's an encapsulated radiation treatment, that is implanted exactly where the radiation is needed.
Of course, in my mind everything comes back to Cushing's. I know some people have radiation treatment and then (I think this is right) it can take up to a year to know if the radiation was effective. So I'm wondering if someday in the future that could be considered for treatment of a pit tumor. Would it even be possible to implant something in the pit? Could there be enough radiation in something that small to even take care of a tumor?
Just something I've been thinking about since yesterday. IF it's possible, I wonder how many years it could take to get it implemented.

This morning on the news, residents of Sara Palin's (R-VP candidate) hometown were interviewed. Mostly they were asked about their thoughts on her 17 yo unmarried daughter being pregnant. I found one response very amazing.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032633/
click on "Town reacts to Palin Pregnancy"

While I don't condone unwed motherhood I don't condem it either. One woman thinks this would fall on the mother's shoulders. I believe that no matter how good a job one does raising their children, mistakes happen. My guess is that this woman a) has no idea what her children do and they luckily never got caught, b) has perfect children or c) has no children. It really stunned me to hear her response, it seems she feels that parents actually control everything their children do.
While I'd like to think that my children are perfect, I know the truth.
We're all human.

There's definitely a bit of fall in the air these days. Early in the morning and late evenings there's just a hint with a bit of a chill. I really like fall, except it preceeds winter. Winter is best if you only have to leave the house if you want to. Maybe it'll be slow in coming!
Jess has been having just a little trouble lately in the mornings. Not feeling very good at all. Not quite sure why, but for now she's going to get a little extra sleep in the mornings and only do papers with me on Fri.-Sun. We'll see if that extra sleep helps.
Last week she had several days where she just didn't feel good. She finally figured out that while she isn't actually having a period she is spotting. Before surgery she would spot and that was it. But now (she realized it had happened last month also) she may only be spotting but she gets cramps with it. Pretty intense I'd say as she seems pretty sick. So next month maybe we'll recognize it and she can start Pamprin/Midol/something early.
Justin still seems about the same as he has for the last few weeks. Which I'm thinking is a little better than he did a month or two ago. I'm wondering if he won't feel at least a little better when all the moving to the new place is done and they're done with deadbeat roommates. I'm sure it's got to be stressful to live with someone that isn't paying their share of the bills, especially when utilities and such are in your name. Justin had paid the deposit on the last apartment and would of gotten the whole deposit back (desperately needed), except one roommate hadn't been paying all his rent so it was deducted from the deposit. I think there's a chance I'll see his mother today and I'm not above asking about it as Justin hasn't been able to reach him be phone for a couple of days and he never told them where he was moving. Levi stil owes some money for utilities and they paid late several times because Levi didn't have his share and no one else had enough to cover for him. I'm hopeful that this move will be a good one.
We have alot of news in our family. Kimmy (my niece) and Cody are expecting their first baby any day now. Actually due date is Sept 5, which is also Bill's and Genial's birthdays. We found out last week that Tanya (my niece) and Chad are expecting their first in March. Last night we found out that Shanda (my niece, Tanya's sister) and Caleb are engaged. He's a nice guy. So big changes for our family gatherings.